If you’re inappropriately focused on the minutiae of a project instead of the bigger picture, you’re said to be bike-shedding. Grant talks about that modern slang term and Martha discusses a word that goes way back in time, right back to...
Duh and no duh can both mean roughly “that’s obvious,” even though one has a negative stuck on the front. Russell from Dallas has also heard doy, der, and their no forms, all part of the same family of mock-obviousness replies. The evidence here is...
Grant follows up on his chickpea vs. garbanzo poll, and shares an email on the subject from the U.S. Dry Bean Council. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Chickpea and Garbanzo Poll” A few weeks ago, we took a question...
A San Francisco man confesses he routinely pronounces the word both as “bolth.” Grant gives him the results of an informal online survey that shows the caller he’s not alone—some 10 percent of respondents said they do the same...
What’s the correct pronunciation of crayon? Is it cray-on? Cran? Crown? Here’s a dialect survey map that shows the distribution of these pronunciations. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Regional Pronunciations of...
One place where spelling really counts: on a job application. Martha shares some painfully funny proof. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Job Application Spelling Errors” If you think spelling doesn’t matter, think...